JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In ceremonies in Washington, D.C., CSX Transportation (CSXT) employee Jerry D. Richardson, a Waycross, Ga., locomotive electrician and labor leader, won the railroad industry’s 2003 Harold F. Hammond Award in recognition of outstanding individual safety achievement. CSX Transportation was recognized for its safety record among the largest U.S. railroads, winning the second-place Silver Harriman Award.
Both the Hammond and Harriman Awards are administered by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Winners are chosen by a panel of transportation experts. The Harriman Awards are granted on the basis of the lowest personal injury rates per 200,000 employee-hours worked, based upon data compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
Richardson, a 31-year railroad veteran, earned CSXT’s nomination for the prestigious national award through his tireless commitment to safety on the personal, professional and community levels. He has been a driving force behind the Waycross, Ga., Locomotive Shop’s record-setting safety performance during the past two years – working more than 500,000 manhours without a reportable injury — and the CSXT Mechanical Department’s leading safety performance among all North American Class 1 railroads in 2002. He is a co-winner of this year’s Hammond award along with the Montana Rail Link’s Dennis Greenwalt.
Richardson “has had a profound impact on our railroad and on every life that he touches,” said Michael J. Ward, CSX chairman and chief executive officer, in his nominating letter. “From the school children he energizes with safety messages to the veteran railroaders whose safety commitment is rejuvenated by his enthusiasm, Mr. Richardson’s contribution has gone beyond the traditional and even the exceptional. His singular devotion to protecting the safety of his co-workers and fellow citizens has been crucial to the transformation of safety from a collection of programs into a core value that is embedded at the deepest level of our railroad culture.”
Richardson is local chairman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at Waycross, and vice general chairman of IBEW System Council 9, encompassing all locomotive facilities on CSXT. He also serves as a member of Waycross Safety Steering Committee.
The Harold F. Hammond Award was established in 1986 and named for the former president of the Transportation Association of America, who played a pioneering role in railroad worker safety. The Harriman Awards were founded in 1913 by the late Mrs. Mary W. Harriman in memory of her husband, Edward H. Harriman, a pioneer in American railroading.
CSX Transportation Inc. and its 34,000 employees provide rail transportation services over a 23,000 route-mile network in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. CSXT is a business unit of CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX), and both are headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla.